Sounds like your cattle are accustomed to your dog. We used to have border collies around and they helped us "drive" the cattle where we wanted them to go. Then we went to some clinics and researched and learned not to drive the cattle so we stopped keeping the dogs once those two retired. When we weren't driving them the cattle were not bothered by those two. In fact to get any respect during the drive, the dogs would sometimes have to nip the cow's heels or nose so they weren't ignored. But if we took our dogs to a neighbor's to help drive their cattle, no need. The cows were already in flight mode when they seen the dogs. Cow behavior is weird. A pretty good book was written by autistic women on it (Temple Grandin) and several phds have done studies on what she recommends. If you are a cow nerd like a lot of my family, she is a good resource to help your weight gain per head.
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Local rancher shoots dog, public outrage ensues
- Thread starter not2hye
- Start date
Sounds like your cattle are accustomed to your dog. We used to have border collies around and they helped us "drive" the cattle where we wanted them to go. Then we went to some clinics and researched and learned not to drive the cattle so we stopped keeping the dogs once those two retired. When we weren't driving them the cattle were not bothered by those two. In fact to get any respect during the drive, the dogs would sometimes have to nip the cow's heels or nose so they weren't ignored. But if we took our dogs to a neighbor's to help drive their cattle, no need. The cows were already in flight mode when they seen the dogs. Cow behavior is weird. A pretty good book was written by autistic women on it (Temple Grandin) and several phds have done studies on what she recommends. If you are a cow nerd like a lot of my family, she is a good resource to help your weight gain per head.
Ransil
Well-known member
- Joined
- May 19, 2020
- Member Number
- 51
- Messages
- 510
when were were youins we would go to the neighboring cow "pasture" they were in the woods, we would sneak up behind the bull(s)and shoot em in the nuts with sling shots, used shot shell primers they would whistle all the way to target when shot.
Lee
Guild of Calamitous Intent
Cows are like people, or anything else, some are just down right mean, some are giant puppies that want to be your shadow and loved on, some are dumb as a stump, some are as clever as some of the smarter dogs you've been around. Some breeds have a tendency to be nicer or meaner, smarter or dumber, but there are outliers in all of them.
We've got a strong Simmental influence in dad's herd, ran Simmental bulls for decades, had several full blood Simmental mama cows too. Simmental/Fleckvieh are typically large framed, big bodied red/orange and white spotted beef cattle, but they come in all colors solid black Fleckviehs are a thing too. They're big cows, typically not too smart, but real docile. I showed several Simmentals at county/state/district fairs, I had a big red and white Fleckvieh bull that was the proverbial puppy, we all called him the "gentile giant," I was maybe 160 lbs soaking wet, teen, leading a 2,200 lb bull around with only a halter. He had a ring in his nose, because show rules required all bulls to have one, but I never once used the ring to control him. Even during showmanship classes, where it's a mix of all breeds and genders, and a good chance of there being a heifer or two in season in the show ring with you, I had full control of that bull.
When I was a little kid, grandpa had a big Brahman bull, they're the big eared, floppy necked, cattle with a hump on their back. Same ones a lot of SE Asia/Indan folks worship. Brahman have a reputation of being a little aggressive and wild. There are photos of my cousin and I riding around the pasture on that bull's back like a horse, he didn't have an aggressive bone in his body. Now some of his lineage, 2 in particular, were a couple of the meanest cows I've ever been around, especially if they had newborn calves around. Pepper & Wild Thing were their names, I ran for my life from both of them on multiple occasions, I'm not so sure I'd be alive today if grandpa's Blue Heeler hadn't been with me when I came face to face with Pepper one day. Grandpa even took a ball peen hammer to Wild Thing once, Matadors use swords, grandpa grabbed the nearest object, to defend himself, just happened to be a hammer on the tailgate while he was mending fence.
A little before I left home for college, grandpa got a black Limousin bull, none of us really ever understood that, he did like to joke that he'd "always wanted his own 'limousine,'" when asked about it, referencing the the car limousine, not the breed Limousin. Limousin are another large frame beef breed, traditionally red, but there are black ones too like grandpa's. We decided grandpa's bull was pretty good looking, and we could probably win some ribbons at the county fair with him. We spent about a week attempting to break him to lead before he jumped the 6' corral fence, and we gave up. Even with a ring in his nose, and a Big Jim halter, he was uncontrollable. We had to put him in the head chute to catch him, and then we could only move him with a snatch block or the tractor. When he was moving he was fighting, wild, and dangerous. When he made it over the corral fence, we decided he was unshowable. He sired quite a few assholes, but none of his kids lived up to his standard of ornery.
I showed a commercial heifer out of that Limousin bull, she was about as nutty as her dad, I had to use nosers with her, and Ace her to get control in the show ring. I went for an impromptu ski trip behind her several times. She was nuttier than a Payday.
We had a cow that was an escape artist, she could figure out gate latches, was always looking for an opening in the fence, and had a really high tolerance for electricity. I finally broke her of her walking through the electric fence with some 20 Ga 7.5 shot to the ass. It only took 2 lessons.
When we first moved to the farm my parents are still on, the house's yard wasn't fenced, so we had cows in the yard. We had one that would come up to the picture window in the living room to watch TV with us every night. She was totally fixed on and mesmerized by the TV.
I can vouch for the Holstein bulls being evil, Jewels grew up on a dairy, she's got stories. As a kid, I took my premium auction earnings from my show steers and invested them into my own herd. I had about a dozen Holstein/Angus cross cows I bought as ~week old calves, bottle fed and raised. The dairy I bought them from, ran an Angus bull on his Holstein milkers, because he didn't want anything to do with a Holstein bull. Going to schools smelling like a wood fire place and milk replacer, does not get the ladies flocking to you.
I'm not sure what my point was, if I had one. Cows are generally fun, some are awesome, some are assholes.
We've got a strong Simmental influence in dad's herd, ran Simmental bulls for decades, had several full blood Simmental mama cows too. Simmental/Fleckvieh are typically large framed, big bodied red/orange and white spotted beef cattle, but they come in all colors solid black Fleckviehs are a thing too. They're big cows, typically not too smart, but real docile. I showed several Simmentals at county/state/district fairs, I had a big red and white Fleckvieh bull that was the proverbial puppy, we all called him the "gentile giant," I was maybe 160 lbs soaking wet, teen, leading a 2,200 lb bull around with only a halter. He had a ring in his nose, because show rules required all bulls to have one, but I never once used the ring to control him. Even during showmanship classes, where it's a mix of all breeds and genders, and a good chance of there being a heifer or two in season in the show ring with you, I had full control of that bull.
When I was a little kid, grandpa had a big Brahman bull, they're the big eared, floppy necked, cattle with a hump on their back. Same ones a lot of SE Asia/Indan folks worship. Brahman have a reputation of being a little aggressive and wild. There are photos of my cousin and I riding around the pasture on that bull's back like a horse, he didn't have an aggressive bone in his body. Now some of his lineage, 2 in particular, were a couple of the meanest cows I've ever been around, especially if they had newborn calves around. Pepper & Wild Thing were their names, I ran for my life from both of them on multiple occasions, I'm not so sure I'd be alive today if grandpa's Blue Heeler hadn't been with me when I came face to face with Pepper one day. Grandpa even took a ball peen hammer to Wild Thing once, Matadors use swords, grandpa grabbed the nearest object, to defend himself, just happened to be a hammer on the tailgate while he was mending fence.
A little before I left home for college, grandpa got a black Limousin bull, none of us really ever understood that, he did like to joke that he'd "always wanted his own 'limousine,'" when asked about it, referencing the the car limousine, not the breed Limousin. Limousin are another large frame beef breed, traditionally red, but there are black ones too like grandpa's. We decided grandpa's bull was pretty good looking, and we could probably win some ribbons at the county fair with him. We spent about a week attempting to break him to lead before he jumped the 6' corral fence, and we gave up. Even with a ring in his nose, and a Big Jim halter, he was uncontrollable. We had to put him in the head chute to catch him, and then we could only move him with a snatch block or the tractor. When he was moving he was fighting, wild, and dangerous. When he made it over the corral fence, we decided he was unshowable. He sired quite a few assholes, but none of his kids lived up to his standard of ornery.
I showed a commercial heifer out of that Limousin bull, she was about as nutty as her dad, I had to use nosers with her, and Ace her to get control in the show ring. I went for an impromptu ski trip behind her several times. She was nuttier than a Payday.
We had a cow that was an escape artist, she could figure out gate latches, was always looking for an opening in the fence, and had a really high tolerance for electricity. I finally broke her of her walking through the electric fence with some 20 Ga 7.5 shot to the ass. It only took 2 lessons.
When we first moved to the farm my parents are still on, the house's yard wasn't fenced, so we had cows in the yard. We had one that would come up to the picture window in the living room to watch TV with us every night. She was totally fixed on and mesmerized by the TV.
I can vouch for the Holstein bulls being evil, Jewels grew up on a dairy, she's got stories. As a kid, I took my premium auction earnings from my show steers and invested them into my own herd. I had about a dozen Holstein/Angus cross cows I bought as ~week old calves, bottle fed and raised. The dairy I bought them from, ran an Angus bull on his Holstein milkers, because he didn't want anything to do with a Holstein bull. Going to schools smelling like a wood fire place and milk replacer, does not get the ladies flocking to you.
I'm not sure what my point was, if I had one. Cows are generally fun, some are awesome, some are assholes.
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